Free LZR-1143: Redemption by Bryan James

of the corporals in the rec room while he was playing video games, and I packed my crap and waited. When the guards shifted out, I snuck through. Bingo bango.” She tossed her bolt into the air and caught it again, flashing Kate a fake smile.
    “And where’d you get the fancy clothes?” I asked, having noticed quickly that she was wearing a smaller version of the tactical outfits we had been given. “You steal those too?”
    “I’m borrowing them. If they all survive the apocalypse, and they can find a soldier that fits into their extra-small petite version, then they can have ‘em back.”
    Kate’s face was a hardened steel mom-face.
    A “smile all you want but I brought you into this world I can take you out” kind of look.
    Despite the fact that, you know, Kate hadn’t brought her into the world. She had saved her life a few times, though, so I assumed that counted.
    “That’s not the part I was asking about,” she said, gritting her teeth.
    Shit was getting dangerous. I began slowly inching back, away from the approaching nuclear fallout.
    “Oh,” said Ky, knowing full well what she was asking. “The last bit?” The nonchalance—the forced nonchalance—was oozing from the kid.
    I had never liked her more than I did now.
    But I was still backing up.
    Something very interesting about this wall, right here. Yep, definitely needed to get closer to check it out.
    “Well… You see, Romeo here, he’s not something they’re interested in. And he’s pretty fast. So he and I have this system.” She reached into her bag, and took out a hard rubber ball—the kind that bounce forever when they’re thrown, and that dogs can never destroy.
    “I throw this as hard as I can, and he runs after it. Thing is, he knows not to bring it back to me. So when I throw it, he takes it and runs in the direction I threw it. He waits for me to get to a safe place, and finds his way back. He’s really pretty smart.”
    I spared a glance for the dark red dog, so valiantly described, and he stared back, one eye dripping dog-goo, and a slow drip of spittle falling slowly from one fang.
    Yeah, he’s got ‘Macarthur Genius Grant’ stenciled on his forehead, alright.
    He shook his head and the spittle flew into the air. Then, he reached his head into his nether-regions, as if daring me to comment.
    “So, we slipped under the chain link fence on the outer perimeter—just took some imaginative lock picking on the Metro doors to get out of the tunnels—and it was dark, and foggy, and we just made our way slowly. Every time they got close, he’d bolt off in the other direction, and I’d hide somewhere. Eventually, we got to the terminal. It was all locked up, did you know that? Only a few of those things inside. We grabbed a snack from the concessions and sat in one of the first class lounges. I got lucky though, since you guys weren’t supposed to leave until tonight. Romeo actually woke me up. We could see the landing lights on the plane.”
    “And? How did you get from the lounge onto the tarmac without going through those things?” Kate was deceptively calm.
    Wow. I wonder what purpose that bolt on the wall is serving? I definitely needed to check.
    “Well… that actually took some doing,” she admitted grudgingly, twirling her crossbow bolt in her hand again. “The drones were doing their thing, and I figured we could probably flank them for a couple minutes more, until the plane was louder. So we made our way to a jet way and down the stairs. Did you know that all the doors inside the airport open if you push them? The locks only work from the outside. That. That was luck.”
    “You’re telling me you didn’t see any of those things between the Metro and when we saw you? You’re full of crap.” Kate was incredulous.
    I checked her pistol hand again, just to make sure.
    We both knew she was lying. The kid was too much like me.
    I was so proud.
    “No, we saw a few. Inside the terminal, not many. I only used a